I agree with this. Sidestepping flamewars, many argue JavaScript is horrible. Many argue node.js and the philosophy of small stdlib with ecosystem of small packages is ideal. It certainly has not stopped the JavaScript world having such an package ecosystem.
There is also no guarantee that technically amazing programming languages will find wide adoption versus PLs less well suited to the solution space.
“New Jersey Approach” versus “MIT Approach” is real and there are many real-world examples, though it’s not really measurable. The rise of Worse is Better. In fact, some camps explicitly adopt Worse is Better.
I like the idea that Julia is the next Julia. Don’t fit the language to the narrative, fit the narrative to the language.